Richmond Art Museum
Richmond, IN
765-966-0256
http://www.richmondartmuseum.org
Mote's Art: The Quaker and Richmond Heritage
of Marcus Mote
June 11 - July 30, 2000
Marcus Mote (1817-1899) was a Quaker Artist in Richmond. The exhibition
features portraits, still lifes, and landscapes painted in Richmond including
satirical commentary works on the temperance movement. Mote saw the transition
of Richmond from a rural farming community to its beginnings as an industrial
force. He used paint over photograph in much of his work resulting in fragile
surfaces but good likenesses of early inhabitants. (left: Call
at the Sign of the Old Gray Goose, Wayne County Historical Museum)
The exhibition is organized stylistically and includes
stereoscopic views of Richmond taken in Mote's lifetime. Mote lived in a
rapidly changing world and his art reflects his struggle to adapt and remain
a true Quaker. Mote 
was born in Miami County, Ohio to Quakers David and
Miriam Mendenhall Mote. His career in Lebanon, Ohio was that of an itinerant
limner distinguished by a life sketch of John Quincy Adams and the
execution of four large panoramas. He moved to Richmond in 1864 and in 1869
founded the Richmond Academy of Design. He is most noted for his portraits,
biblical paintings and
documenting the Yearly Meetings. His diaries, letters and art give many
insights to the evolving Quaker life in 19th Century Indiana. (left:
Ball'ie and his owner, 1880, Wayne County Historical Museum Collection)
Please also see photographs
of the Marcus Mote Home located between Waynesville and Oregonia; and a
map of the Locations
of the Meetings, Consitituing Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends,
1851 by Marcus Mote
Read more about the Richmond
Art Museum in Resource Library Magazine
Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line
to see enlargements.
For further biographical information on selected artists
cited above please see America's Distinguished
Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
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Marcus Mote (1817-1899) was a Quaker Artist in Richmond. The exhibition
features portraits, still lifes, and landscapes painted in Richmond including
satirical commentary works on the temperance movement. Mote saw the transition
of Richmond from a rural farming community to its beginnings as an industrial
force. He used paint over photograph in much of his work resulting in fragile
surfaces but good likenesses of early inhabitants. (left: Call
at the Sign of the Old Gray Goose, Wayne County Historical Museum)
